Vaporizer for internal-combustion engines



Aug. 14, 1923. 11,464fi99 R. J. BERARD VAPOHIZER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Sent. 10 1920 Fig.1.

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lnveni'or. Rerni J. Bernard V Patented Aug. 14, 1923.

U T E A T REMI J. BERARI OF WOONSQCKET, RHODE ISLAND.

VAPORIZER FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filed September 10, 1820. Serial No. 409,327.-

. ing description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts. I

This invention relates to improvements 1 in vaporizing mechanisms for internal combustion engines and the-object thereof is to provide means for adding vapor to the charge ofexplosi've mixture which is supplied to the cylinders of the engines.

It is well known that internal combustion engines operate more eiiiciently in humid weather and at night when the air is charged with more moisture, than at other times, and the object of the present invention' is to provide means for introducing such amount 0t vaporized moisture with the charge entering the cylinders as will cause the engine to perform at the highest .efiiciency.

A further object of the invention is to provide a vaporizing means which may be readily attached to the intake of a usual type of internal combustion engine.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for so correlating the amount of water supplied and the air used in vaporizing the same to produce the desired con- I tent of vapor thus introduced.

.A further object of the invention is to provide means for simultaneously regulating the air and water thus supplied.

-A further object of the invention is to provide a convenient means by which a water vaporizer may be attached to the intake of the enginebetween the carburetor and the usual intake pipe which leads to the engine cylinder.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the followingv description and the accompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the anneXed claims. V

A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated herein as applied to a fourcylinder internal combustion engine of a usual type. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sufiicient portion of an internal combustion engine, such as are commonly used in automobiles, showing my lnvention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section' of a preferred form of vaporizing device embodying my invention.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through a portion of the vaporizing device at right angles to that illustrated in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a view of the apertured disks which are used to produce a vertical movement of the current of vapor and air which is introduced into the intake pipe of the engine, and,

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of an improved means adapted to enable the vaporizer to be introduced between the carbureter and the intake or manifold of the engine without necessitating any modification of such mechanisms.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated herein as applied to a usual type of internal combustion engine 1 hav ing a series of cylinders, an intake manifold 2 leading to said cylinders from a carbureter 3, the carbureter casing being pro vided with a flange 4 which is bolted to a complementary flange 5 upon the end of the manifold.

The watervaporizer is illustrated herein as being applied at the junction of the main body of the manifold with the arms leading to the several cylinders, but it will be understood that it may be connected to the intake conduit of the engine at any convenient point.

The preferred formof vaporizer which is disclosed herein comprises a casting 6 hav ing a conduit 7 leading through an arm 8 to a pipe 9 which may conveniently have a screw threaded connection with said arm Sand with the manifold ofthe engine. The casting 6 is also provided with a hollow arm 10 communicating with the conduit 7 and 7 having attached thereto a tubular extension 11 in which is telescopically seated a tubular air controlling valve 12 preferably having a series of lateral ports 13 adapted, whenthe valve is in telesc-oped position, to be closed by the casing 11 and to be successively opened as the valve is withdrawn from the casing.

The outer end of the tubular valve 12 is provided with a head 14 to which is secured means for actuating the valve; such actuating means may conveniently be a stiff tempered wire 15 enclosed within a spiral casing 16 leading through the instrument board 17 of the automobile to a suitable handle 18 so that by pushing or pulling upon the handle 18 the valve 12 may be actuated to open or close the ports.

The casing 6 is also provided with a third arm 19 which preferably extends at right angles to the arms 8 and 10 and is provided with a passage 20 through which water may be delivered to the conduit 7. The arm 19 preferably is "formed separately from the body 6 of the casing and is secured to it by a screw threaded connection. The end of the arm 19 preferably is made with a tapered point which extends approximately to the middle of the conduit 7. The passage 20 preferably terminates short of the end of the arm and Communicates with the conduit 7 through small ducts 20 which permit the water to be delivered to the conduit only when a partial vacuum is created in the conduit 7 by the suction of the engine. The ducts 20 also serve to divide the water supplied through the passage 20 into line streams so that the water entering the conduit 7 is readily vaporized.

The arm 19 is also provided with a rotary valve 21 having a handle 22 which is connected by a rod 23 to the head 14 of the air CODtIOlliIlg valve, so that the delivery of water to the conduit 7 may be controlled in correlation to the amount of air delivered to the air intake passage of the vaporizer leading to the conduit 7. It is desirable that the opening of the valve 21 shall be so correlated to the opening of the ports 13 that during the initial opening of the ports the passage 20 shall be opened gradually as the first of the ports 13 is opened gradually, but that after the first of the ports 13 have been fully opened the valve in the passage leading to the conduit 7 of the vaporizer shall remain fully opened. In order to produce this result the port 2 1 of the valve 21 is so constructed that its walls diverge outwardly from the center, so that the intake opening 25 and the outlet opening 26 of said valve are of considerably greater area than the cross section of the central portion. oi the port 2-1. Consequently, after the valve has been sorota-ted as to fully open its passage, further movement of the valve during the opening of the ports in the air controlling valve will not modify the area of the port through which water is delivered to the conduit 7.

Any suitable means may be provided for supplying water to the passage 20. As illustrated herein water is delivered from a reservoir 27, which may be conveniently located upon the top of the engine. through a small pipe 28 which is connected by a nipple 29 to the end of the arm 19 in alinen eut with the passage 20 therethrough.

It will be obvious that when the vaporizer is attached to the engine and the handle manipulated in such a manner as to'open the ports 13 of the air cont-rolling valve for said vaporizer the valve 21 in the duct will be opened sufliciently 'to supply water to the chamber 7. The suction ot the engine cylinder or cylinders upon the intake stroke will, therefore, draw air through the ports 13 oi? the vaporizer, thence through the conduit 7 where it will impinge upon and vaporize the water delivered to said chamberthrough the ducts 20*, and rushing through said conduit will introduce into the explosive mixture, which is at the same time being drawn from the carburetor, an amount of moisture which is regulated by the setting of the air controlling valve and the valve which controls the delivery of water to the conduit 7.

Inasmuch as the suction produced by the engine is dependent upon the speed of the engine as controlled by the usual throttle alve, the amount of luunidified air which is drawn into the manitold and introduced with the hydrocarbon mixture will be correlated to the demands of the engine, but such correlation may be controlled by the conjoint regulation of the air intake valve and the valve which controls the delivery of water to the vaporizer.

In order to insure complete vaporization of the water by the current of air which passes through the vaporizer means are preterably provided to cause the current of air passing through the conduit 7 to assume a whirling or a vortical motion. This is conveniently accomplished by placing in the conduit 7 one, or preferably a plurality of disks 30 and 31 each of which is provided with a circular series of apertures 32. the apertures 32 of the successive disks being in circumferentially staggered relation to the other, so that the air passing from one of said apertures to the other will necessarily be deflected laterally. Thus the air from the conduit 7 is given a whirling motion as it passes through the tube 9 into the manifold. This vertical n'io'vement of the air servesto effectively and completely vaporize the water so that the vapor will mingle readily and thoroughly with the hydrocarbon miXture passing through the manifold into the engine cylinders.

The disks 30 and 31 may be secured in the conduit 7 in any suitable manner. A convenient means consists in providing a slightly enlarged bore for the outer portion of the conduit to provide a shoulder against which the disk 30 may be seated. The disk 31 may be of somewhat larger diameter and clamped by the end of the pipe 9 against a suitable shoulder in the wall of the conduit 7. I

In Fig. 5 means are illustrated to provide pin for the attachment of the vaporizer above described to the intake of an engine without the necessity of tapping through the wall of the intake pipe or manifold. This construction comprises a hollow member or sleeve 33 of a diameter equal to the diameter of the flanges 4 and 5 upon the carbureter and end of the intake pipe respectively, (see Fig. 1), said sleeve 33 having suitable holes to receive bolts 34 adapted to clamp together the flanges 4 and 5 with the sleeve 33 between them. The sleeve 33 is provided with an aperture having screw threaded walls to receive the pipe 9 which is connected to the arm 8 of the vaporizer.

It will be understood that the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is illustrative and not restrictive, that various changes in construction and arrangement of parts may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention; that the reservoir for supplying watermay be supported in any convenient location and that the vaporizer may be attached to the intake of the engine at any desired place and in any desired manner. It will also be understood that the invention is adapted to be applied to a single-cylinder engine or to an engine having any number of cylinders.

By reason of the present invention the amount of vapor which isin'troduced into the cylinder with the explosive mixture may be so regulated in proportion to the amount of hydro-carbon and air, that a perfect explosive mixture will be produced thereby effecting a great saving in the amount of fuel consumed and also preventing carbonization within the cylinder. As a result the engine will run' more smoothly and will greatly accelerate its speed as has been demonstrated by comparative tests of an idling engine taken before and after the vaporizer has been applied thereto.

Furthermore, the employment of the invention enables the engine to be operated efiiciently upon poorer grades of hydr0-carbon without fouling the cylinder.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A vaporizer for internal combustion engines comprising a conduit having means of attachment to the intake of an internal combustion engine, an air intake leading to said conduit, a telescoping tubular valve in the intake of said conduit having a series of lateral ports adapted to'be opened successively by the movement of said valve, means for supplying water to said conduit, a valve in said water supplying means and manually controlled means operable to simultaneously actuate said tubular valve and the water controlling valve.

2. A vaporizer for internal combustion engines comprising a. conduit having means of attachment to the intake of an internal combustion engine, an air intake leading to said conduit, a telescoping tubular valve in the intake of said conduit having a lon gitudinally arranged series of lateral ports adapted to be opened successively by the movement of said valve, means for adjusting said valve, a water supplying duct leading to said conduit, a water controlling valve in said duct and means connecting said water controlling valve and said air controlling valve operable simultaneously to actuate both valves whereby the vapor supplied to the engine intake will be correlated to the demand of the engine.

3. A vaporizer for internal combustion engines comprising a. conduit having means of attachment to the intake of an internal combustion engine, an air intake leading to said conduit, a tubular valve in said air intake having a longitudinally arranged series of ports, a water supplying duct leading to said conduit and a valve in said duct connected to said air controlling valve and so constructed as initially to open gradually, in correlation to the opening of the air controlling valve, but when fully open to permit further adjustment of the water controlling valve without effecting the area of the opening of the valve in said duct.

4. A vaporizer for internal combustion engines comprising a conduit having means of attachment to the intake of an internal combustion engine, an air intake leading to said conduit, a valve in said air intake, a water supplying duct, a rotary valve in said water supplying duct provided with a port having its walls diverging outwardly from the central portion of the valve and means connecting the valve in said duct to the air cont-rolling valve operable to cause the valve in said duct to open gradually in correlation to the opening of the air controlling valve, but permitting the valve in said duct to be fully opened during further adjustment of the air cont-rolling valve.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

REMI J. BER-ARD. 

